World Wide Worx found that Takealot remained the most popular online shopping platform in South Africa, while Shein was more popular than South Africa's largest on-demand grocery delivery service.
On average, more South Africans who shop online used the Chinese fashion retailer Shein than the Checkers Sixty60 on-demand delivery platform.
This is according to data from World Wide Worx, which released its SA Online Retail report on Wednesday, 2 September 2026.
The report was based on long-term trends and market analysis conducted by World Wide Worx, as well as face-to-face interviews with nearly 24,000 consumers.
The study’s methodology also included a targeted survey of 1,400 online shoppers and telephonic interviews with 201 retailers.
World Wide Worx’s data revealed that, in 2025, Takealot was the most-used online retailer by South Africans. The data showed that 35.3% of respondents used Takealot to shop online.
It was followed by Chinese online fashion retailer Shein in second, and the Checkers Sixty60 on-demand grocery delivery platform in third.
Amazon was the fourth-most used platform. However, it should be noted that this data was taken from before it launched its Prime membership in South Africa.
“Competition is broadening. Takealot remains the most-used platform, used by 35.3% of online shoppers, followed by Shein at 21.5% and Checkers Sixty60 at 15%,” World Wide Worx said.
It added that Amazon was used by 12.7% of online shoppers before the Prime membership launched locally in June 2026.
Shein’s positioning represents a big shift from previous years. In World Wide Worx’s last SA Online Retail report, just 9% of respondents said they shopped on Temu or Shein more frequently than local stores.
“I do believe that the Chinese storefronts will not continue to be the disruptors they have been,” World Wide Worx founder and CEO, Arthur Goldstuck, said at the time.
“If you read the important detail, you’ll find it suggests they’re a bit of a sheep in wolves’ clothing. They are significant, but they’re not as disruptive as they’ve been made out to be.”
Shein has been available to South African shoppers for several years, while Temu launched locally in January 2024.
While Shein focuses primarily on fashion products, it, like Temu, imports a wide range of products to South Africa at reduced prices.
The Chinese platforms saw immense popularity in South Africa in 2024, prompting local retailers and representatives of goods manufacturers to raise concerns.
They accused the Chinese platforms of exploiting tax loopholes to undercut local businesses, posing a major threat to the South African retail and textile market.
Industry experts determined the root of the problem to be a South African Revenue Service (SARS) concession designed to streamline customs clearance for logistics companies.
It enabled importers to pay a flat 20% duty, excluding VAT, on low-value imports, instead of having to go through the full declaration process.
Local players accused the Chinese retailers of exploiting the concession to avoid the 45% customs duty on imported clothing, creating an unfair playing field in South Africa.
However, SARS has cracked down on the issue. It reconfigured the 20% flat-rate to align with the World Customs Organisation (WCO) import guidelines.
The first step was adding VAT to all low-value imports, which SARS implemented in September 2024, and it planned to apply new import duties from 1 November 2024.
However, these changes were only implemented in February 2025. Textiles and clothing orders from these platforms are now subject to a 45% import duty plus 15% VAT.
